It’s officially the summer of pilsners. Forget dank and juicy triple IPAs, don’t give me your quadruple-fruited sours, and get that stout out of your hand! It’s lager season, baby. I’m talking about crisp, crushable brews. After drinking a ridiculous amount of IPAs at Juicy Brews, all I want is a light, crackery lager, hopefully brewed with Noble hops.

Because we’ve come across some excellent lagers recently, *cough* Suarez Family Brewery *cough,* we decided to host a blind tasting, asking breweries around the country to send in their best packaged pilsners. We hosted the tasting at one of our favorite beer bars in the city, As Is, and the Hop Culture team was joined by guest tasters Benjamin Pratt and Brandon Duff, the co-founders of As Is, as well as Katarina Martinez, the owner and head brewer of Lineup Brewing.

Each beer was tasted blind and given a rating from 1 to 10. The scores for each beer were then averaged and are ranked below:

30. Edgeworth, 4.8% ABV

Idle Hands Craft Ales

Malden, MA

Edgeworth is Idle Hands Craft Ales’ take on an American pilsner. “It’s designed to have American flavors, but still be a continental beer,” shared Chris Tkach, the brewery’s founder. Tkach admitted that he didn’t initially want to brew a pilsner at Idle Hands, but the rest of his team convinced him. Now, he loves the style and models his own pilsners after his favorites like Pivo Pils.

29. Prima Pils, 5.3% ABV

Victory Brewing Co.

Downingtown, PA

Prima Pils is often considered a classic pilsner, but it didn’t resonate with our panel. Some of the judges found it sharply bitter and a little metallic. Of all the beers we ranked, Prima is one of the most widely distributed… perhaps it spent a little too much time in the can?

28. Pony, 5.5% ABV

Half Acre Beer Co.

Chicago, IL

Half Acre is perhaps most well known for its Daisy Cutter Pale Ale, a crisp, hoppy take on the style. However, most of our judges didn’t think this German-style pilsner found the right balance of malt and hops.

27. Pearl Snap, 5.3% ABV

26. Legend Has It, 5.5% ABV

Creature Comforts + Interboro + Run the Jewels

Athens, GA

Another collaboration between the hip-hop duo Run the Jewels and a craft brewery — this time, El-P and Killer Mike synced up with Athens’ Creature Comforts for a dry-hopped pilsner. However, with strong and dank hoppy notes, this one definitely didn’t feel like a pilsner. That shouldn’t come as a surprise though, when RTJ wanted their last beer to “smell like weed.”

22. Sunnyside Dweller, 5.5% ABV

Ocelot Brewing Co.

Dulles, VA

Most of the judges agreed this was a perfectly easy-going pilsner. It was light with notes of freshly baked biscuits and a solid hoppiness. One judge remarked that they “would crush this on the beach… hard.”

19. Metric, 4.7% ABV

Industrial Arts Brewing Co.

Garnerville, NY

Most of the judges found Metric to be a classic pilsner with a nice balance of hops and malt, perhaps even a light honey note. A slightly papery note was also mentioned but most agreed this was a good representation of the style.

18. Kicking & Screaming, 5.2% ABV

Threes Brewing

Brooklyn, NY

Threes is often one of the few breweries that nails pilsners, and you’ll see why going forward (*spoiler alert*). Kicking & Screaming, a foudre-fermented pilsner, had a floral, earthy aroma with a nice Saaz hop bitterness.

17. Peninsula Pilsner, 5.2% ABV

16. Dreams of Yesterday, 4.8% ABV

Threes + Bearded Iris

Brooklyn, NY

Leave it to Threes to nail a pilsner brewed with oyster shells. This collaboration with Bearded Iris was crisp and savory with almost a smoky minerality. As someone who really doesn’t like oysters, I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

15. Bibo, 5.5% ABV

14. Yellow Snow, 5.5% ABV

Rogue Ales & Spirits

Newport, OR

Rogue used to brew Yellow Snow IPA in honor of its Pacific Northwest winters. The Newport, Oregon-based brewery decided to do the same with a pilsner, resulting in Yellow Snow Pilsner, which is brewed with spruce tips.

13. Pilsner, 5.2% ABV

Breakside Brewery

Portland, OR

A nice caramel sweetness comes through on this German pilsner from Breakside Brewery. One of our judges (who has an arts degree, obviously) described it as “smooth as John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.”

7. Pivo Pils, 5.3% ABV

6. Pilsner, 5% ABV

Perennial Artisan Ales

St. Louis, MO

I’ve always admired Perennial for their saisons and witbiers, so I was surprised to find such an enjoyable pilsner from them. Our judges noted the light herbal and lemon notes. It was hoppy but balanced and tasted fresh and crisp.

5. Rev Pils, 5.5% ABV

4. Florida Room, 5% ABV

Hoof Hearted Brewing Co.

Marengo, OH

Hoof Hearted isn’t a traditional lager brewery, so it’s fitting that they opted for a hopped up version. The result is a crisp, zesty beer with a fruity aroma and taste. It may not have been exactly true-to-style, but it was still delicious.

3. Post Shift, 4.7% ABV

2. Pilsner, 5% ABV

Five Boroughs Brewing Co.

Brooklyn, NY

This one was the freshest pilsners we had: a freshly-filled growler, hand-delivered at the beginning of our tasting. It was also one of the tastiest. The pilsner from Five Boroughs was golden with a slight piney, resinous quality. It was light, yet flavorful and a great example of the style.

1. Palatine Pils, 5% ABV

Suarez Family Brewery

Livingston, NY

Could it be anything else? In my eyes, Palatine is a flawless pilsner. It’s soft, drinkable, and expressive with a lovely balance of malt and hops. As one of our judges wrote, even before the end of the tasting, “winner, winner.”